Trapped
by twilightwonderer
Summary: A fire, a sick kid, an evacuated hospital and our favourite Clinical Nurse Manager, what could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Casualty and it's probably a good job I don't, the show would be a complete and utter mess solely focusing on approximately 4 characters. I do own one aspect of this story; Henry, he is completely made up, by me, so he is mine! Back off!**

Today Rita was upstairs, pediatrics intensive care had called down at the beginning of her shift asking for staff as they were seriously understaffed and just so conveniently no one else was available. Her time upstairs had gone relatively well until some teen with a vengeance for the ED had decided to turn the waiting room into his own firework practice arena, luckily no one was hurt and the department had been evacuated but fire soon broke out calling for a full hospital evacuation. Unluckily for Rita though, her patient, a 6 year old boy named Henry was too sick to move and her morals wouldn't let her leave him, so she was stuck, on the top floor, alone with Henry.

 **A/N: So this is just an idea of mine that was slightly inspired by watching The Day After Tomorrow earlier today, please let me know if anyone would like this to be written as a one-shot/story etc. Obviously, the main character is Rita but I would like to make this into a pairing story in the future, so which pairing would you like to see, I was thinking FreeChamp but part of me still wants to cling to the hope of Riain. Let me know by leaving a review...**

 **Sorry for the long AN, leave a review, let me know what you would like to see or else I am left to my own devices and that can be disastrous.**


	2. Chapter 2

Rita looked at Henry, the boy who was previously asleep was now wide-awake, the ear-piercing alarm siren making the boy hold his hands to his ears, he looked at Rita, petrified but with some unending trust and confidence that she, his nurse, his current caregiver knew what to do. It wasn't until this moment that the severity of the situation dawned on Rita, she sat down on the bed, the child crawled onto her lap, and she held him, placing gentle kisses on the crown of his head, telling him that it would all be ok, at least she hoped.

Rita felt her pocket vibrate, she pulled the ringing phone out of her pocket and placed it to her ear, she could just about hear the voice on the other end above the fire alarm, which had since dulled as fire crew had turned off the alarms on her floor, in order to help keep the boy calm.

"Rita? What the hell are you ok?" The voice spoke, laced with worry

"I'm fine" Rita tried to speak with confidence, but her voice still wavered,

"Rita? Speak to me, what's going on? I heard you're still in there, why didn't you evacuate?"

"Oh, I don't know Iain, I just fancied ignoring the alarms and roasting some marshmallows"

"Okay, Okay, Reets, listen to me, I know you're scared" Rita could hear other voices in the background, one she recognised to be Charlie, another Connie, but there were two others that she did not recognise "Look, I'm with the fire chief now, they need to know where you are so they can come and get you"

"I'm upstairs, on peds intensive care" she looked around the room looking for a room number "room 8"

"They've got you, there coming now" Iain attempted to comfort her

"And what about Henry?" Rita asked, looking down at the young boy

"Henry?" Iain asked confused

"6 y/o, he can't be moved without the equipment he's on"

"They'll go back for him, let's just get you out first"

"No Iain, I am not leaving him," Rita told him

"Reets, come on" Iain pleaded

"No Iain"

Iain sighed, she was stubborn he'd give her that, he tried to reason with her one more time "Reets come on, you know the protocol, they'll get him"

"I. Am. Not. Leaving. Him" Rita repeated, getting agitated

"Okay, Okay. I'm coming to you then!" Iain told her, he ran into the building, he waved back Connie and Charlie's protest and dodged those who tried to stop him.

"Iain, no, there's no need!" It was Rita's turn to protest

"Well it's too late now" Iain choked as the smoke in the ED hit him

The line went dead...

 **A/N: Just a small update was written within my usual Casualty spot since we have to wait until tomorrow, I am a sucker for routine! I am not usually confident when it comes to huge amounts of dialogue in stories, so please feel free to give me feedback on this. I can take it! This story, as by seemingly popular demand will be a Riain story, more updates to follow since I have now finished college for the summer! Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

Rita rang and rang Iain's phone, but there was no answer, with every time she tried, she grew more concerned, more panicked. She tried once more, but yet again there was no answer. Almost without warning, in frustration, she threw the phone across the room. Henry who was once relatively calm, let out a startled whimper, he looked up at Rita with tear-filled brown eyes. Rita struggled to conform herself, calming ever-so-slightly, she had to be calm for Henry's sake.

The now sobbing boy had a vice-like grip around the nurse's' neck. Rita's arms had returned to their previous position, wrapped around the small frame of the boy on her lap. She swayed slowly in an attempt to calm Henry.

"Hey, shhh, it'll be ok" Rita comforted

"No" Henry whimpered

"It will, it will be all ok Henry" Rita tried again

"How do you know?" He asked between breaths

Rita sighed, she didn't know, she had no way of knowing if they were going to be okay, or even get out alive. She placed her finger under Henry's chin, Henry looked up, meeting Rita's eyes.

Rita sighed again, letting her shoulder's drop slightly.

"I don't" Rita confessed, "But whatever happens, I promise that I won't leave you, okay"

"Really?" Henry asked dubiously

"Yes, I promise"

"That's what they all say"

"What do you mean?" Rita asked, puzzled

"Mummy, Daddy, Sam. They all left me" Henry told her

"Oh sweetheart" Rita pulled Henry in again, the boy buried his head in her chest "I'm not going anywhere Henry," she told him. She rested her head on his. "I promise".

Rita swore she heard her name, at first she thought she was imagining it, but she heard it again, she knew that voice anywhere. "We're in here" she called back, her voice breaking slightly. She placed Henry on the bed and stood up. The door swung open and Iain ran in, slamming it behind him.

The pair crashed into each other, each wrapping their arms around the other. They both took a breath.

"What are you thinking?!" They both said simultaneously, they tried to be mad, but they couldn't, they were both just glad to see one another. They laughed slightly at their antics, forgetting momentarily about the situation. Iain captured Rita's lips in his.

"Ewwwwwwwww," Henry said, making fake gagging sounds

Iain laughed at the boy, "Hi I'm Iain, you must be Henry" he said. The boy nodded.

Rita had moved over to the window, she looked out, below her she could see the evacuated people, a silent tear made it's way down her cheek, Rita wiped it away hoping that Iain and Henry hadn't noticed, she had to be strong. They'd be ok. Right?

 **A/N: Thanks so much to those who have reviewed. I can't begin to explain how much I appreciate it! For those who have asked to know more about Henry, this shall be done in further chapters (probably the next), I'm hoping to finish this within the next week (though this is fanfiction, so who knows where this could go). So stay tuned! Again please review (only if you want to though obviously, it's not like I have got a gun to your head or anything!).**

 **Thanks**

 **Nat xx**


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey Buddy" Iain said to Henry "I'll be back in a minute, I'm just going over there ok" Iain gave a quick look over to the boy's bedside table "Here why don't you read this" He said passing a book to the boy, hoping to provide distraction from the current situation. Iain stood up, straightened out some imaginary creases from his uniform and walked towards Rita, once he reached her he wrapped his arms around her waist. Rita flinched at the what seemed like sudden contact, quickly turning around she met Iain's concerned gaze. "Hey you," Iain said

"Hey" she replied, relaxing into Iain

"You ok?" Iain asked

"I'm fine" Rita lied

Iain knew better than to press her, of course, she was upset, they were trapped in a burning building after all.

Rita continued, "Iain, I'm" She was cut short by a sudden coughing fit from Henry, they both rushed over to the boy. "Henry, you ok?" She asked patting his back. Henry nodded, his arm reached out towards a cup of water on the table. Iain retrieved it and held the cup as the child drank from the straw.

"Better?" Iain asked, putting the cup back on the table

"Yes, thank you," Henry told him.

"Hey Reets, you were going to tell me something, before," Iain said, attempting to revive the previous conversation.

"It's fine, it doesn't matter," Rita told him, standing up. She headed to the bottom of the bed and picked up the clipboard that was hanging off it. She flipped through the pages, they read:

'Patient Name: Henry Whitaker, Age: 6, Next of Kin: N/A - Contact Children's Social Worker Karen Smith if there is a change of condition'

Rita cursed out loud "Shit", to which Henry sighed and rolled his eyes. "That's a bad word," He told her, waggling his finger at her.

"Sorry," Rita apologized.

"What," Iain asked, standing and walking to Rita's side to see what she had just read, "Poor kid" he commented, he wrapped his arm around Rita's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. He was shocked though when she shook it off and walked away to sit on the bed where she continued to flip through the pages attached to the clipboard. Stopping when she reached a page entitled 'History of Treatments'. This page told her that Henry had had nine rounds of Chemotherapy in the past. He had an aggressive type of childhood cancer, leukemia. Henry and his younger brother, who was named Sam had undergone a bone marrow donation procedure just last year, this had also been unsuccessful. The final entry onto this described Henry's current treatment, another round of chemotherapy after a long stay in a children's hospice, to which he would return after his current stay in Holby. Rita let out a sigh and passed the clipboard over to Iain, who returned the concerned, empathetic look once he had read the text on the page. "Poor kid" He repeated. The room entered into a somewhat comfortable silence, though the atmosphere could have been cut with a knife.

"Iain?" Henry asked, in an attempt to gain his attention,

"Yes, buddy"

"Will you read this book please, the words are too big for me?" Henry asked

"Sure," Iain told him, moving to lean against the headboard, Henry leaned against Iain's chest and followed Iain's finger as he read the words, "Once upon a time…"#

 **A/N: Just another quick update for you, please review! Love, Nat xx**

 **I wanted to take this opportunity to thank those of you who have reviewed in the past. Thanks so much to totti10, Tanith Panic, read-a-holic17 and Guest (whoever you are). Your reviews and feedback mean so much to me and I really appreciate , Nat xx**

 **Love, Nat xx**


	5. Chapter 5

Iain's narration, however, was soon interrupted by Rita. "Iain," Rita said in a hushed tone as she pointed to the now sleeping child.

"Ahh right," Iain said closing the book and attempting to place it back on the table, the movement, however, caused Henry to stir, Iain froze and Rita stood, "Here let me," she said taking the book, their hands brushing which caused them to both look up. Iain smiled, "You know Reets, I really, really like you," he told her

"Ok" Rita replied confused "I like you too"

"No, I mean, well I-I" Iain stuttered as he attempted to form a proper sentence, he was just about to continue when there was a knock at the window, Henry began to fuss but was soon calmed back into his peaceful slumber as Rita went and opened the window.

"About time!" She said in greeting to the firefighter

"We aim to please." The older man told her, "So are we just going to stand here or shall we get going?"

"We can't move the boy without the medical equipment being at the bottom, you know that right?" Rita objected

"It's all sorted, trust me, the equipment's all there, an ambo is waiting to take the boy to St. James', it's all good, come on," he said holding out his hand

"No, take the boy first"

"Okay, Okay. Iain is it?" The firefighter asked, directing his attention to Iain and the young boy. "Care to bring me the lad"

"Rita, you need to go first," He told her as he disconnected the boy from the equipment, Rita tried to object but Iain insisted, "besides one of us should be there for Henry"

"But" Rita tried once again but with one look from Iain gave up, Iain picked Henry up and handed him to the firefighter. "You need to move quick, we've got about 90 seconds before he needs to be back on the equipment" Rita told the man

"Okay, we'll go first, then you two" The firefighter instructed, "See you at the bottom"and at that he began his descent.

Rita looked out of the window and down the ladder, her body shook with fear. "Iain, I can't, I can't do it!" She told him shaking her head, tears filling her eyes. Iain embraced her quickly.

"You'll be ok, one foot at a time, you can do it" He encouraged her

"No! I can't!" She told him becoming more and more distressed. Iain grabbed her hands "Well go together, come on"

Iain stepped out of the window and onto the ladder, with one hand holding him to the ladder he guided Rita onto the metal apparatus and slowly moved down the ladder, instructing Rita when to move down onto the next step. They were about halfway down the ladder when Rita lost her footing on the slippery surface…

… Iain grabbed hold of Rita's waist. Stabilizing her. "It's okay, I've got you"

"Iain, I can't do it"

"It's ok, you've got this"

A gust of wind swayed the ladder slightly, Rita froze.

"Rita, do you trust me?" Iain asked to which Rita nodded "put your left foot down". Rita moved her left foot, albeit shakily onto the step below

"That's it" Iain encouraged "Good girl, now the right" Rita did just so and the two continued back down the ladder until they reached the bottom. Iain stepped off and lifted Rita on to the ground, the two kissed, relieved to be alive, to be on the secure ground once again.

The need for oxygen broke the two apart. Their foreheads rested together.

"God I love you so much!" Iain told Rita

"I love you too" Rita replied. The two kissed again.

They were interrupted by Jez, "I hate to be that guy, but, Henry's asking for you both"

"Okay, we'll be right there," Iain told his co-worker, Jez walked away. "I thought you weren't afraid of heights" he joked

"Oh shut up!" Rita told Iain, with a shove, "I think under the circumstances I'm allowed to be."

And with that the two walked over to the ambulance destined for St. James, they clambered in, hands entwined and with a wave to their co-workers began their journey to St. James' with Henry.

"Rita and Iain, you came!" Henry exclaimed

"We sure did," Rita told his brushing his cheek with her hand, "I told you I wouldn't leave you!"

 **A/N: and with that, they have left the building. *Mic Drop*. I do have an epilogue to accompany this which shall be uploaded either tonight or tomorrow night (please don't hold me to it, though, I'm pulling a double work weekend so I can't promise this). I will have marked this story as complete following this chapter upload, so don't worry, the epilogue is definitley coming and (spoiler alert!) may or may not open up a different can of worms completely for the couple. Please review, I am considering a sequel to this so if that is something anyone would like to see please let me know!**

 **Thanks for all your support**

 **Love, Nat xx**


	6. Epilogue

"Jesus Iain, it's pouring it down!" Rita commented as they stepped outside of the automatic doors of St. James' hospital. They watched with looks of dread as rain bounced off the roofs of cars and collected in puddles on the floor. Rita brushed her hands over her bare arms, they were both still in their uniform and neither of them had a jumper or coat.

"Yep, you've got that right" Iain replied. "Do you want to phone a cab?"

"It's not that far to yours is it?" Rita asked

"No, about 5 minutes, I reckon"

Rita took off running, "Race ya!" she called over her shoulder.

"Oh, you are so on!" He announced as he ran after her.

They had rounded the corner before he caught up to her,

"You're pretty quick you know?" he commented

"Yep!" she replied with confidence.

"Yeah?" Iain questioned, voice tainted with a playful tone.

"Yep!" Rita repeated.

With a mischevious smile, Iain gave Rita's arm a playful slap, "Tag, You're it!" he announced before running off ahead.

"Jesus Iain, how old are you? 5?"

"If you say so, come on Grandma!"

"I'll get you for that! Git!" and with that Rita gave chase.

Splashing through puddles, Rita caught up with Iain, with a run and a leap, she jumped on his back.

"Tag!" she exclaimed, jumping off Iain's back. She attempted to run away but was caught by Iain as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"Like that is it?!" he asked, the playful tone returning.

Rita, who was caught off guard, could only nod and mumble her agreement.

"I love you," he told her,

"I love you too" she replied before the two kissed.

They broke apart, resting their foreheads together, noses touching,

"As much as I would like to stand here, it's a bit wet! Come on, let's get home, hey?" Iain asked, holding his arm out, they linked arms before continuing their 'quick' journey back to Iain's.

Soggy clothing was now replaced by clean, dry joggers and old t-shirts. Rita and Iain were now resting on the tattered, brown sofa in Iain's apartment. Rita's head was resting on Iain's chest, his arm stretched across Rita's stomach.

"Poor kid hey?" Iain reflected,

"mmhm" Rita nodded,

"Worst part of it is that he's dealing with it on his own, no kid should have to do that alone," Iain said, voice filled with emotion.

"I know, it's shit" Rita agreed "We can be there, though?" she suggested.

"Yeah, we can?" Iain questioned.

"Yeah, visit him regularly, buy him toys and stuff, that sort of thing." She elaborated.

"What if we could do more?"

"What do you mean?" She asked confused.

Rita sat up, she looked at Iain, "so you want to be a father then?" she asked.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"

"Iain, that's great!" Rita said after letting out a breath that she didn't know she was holding.

"It is?"

"Yeah" Rita took Iain's hands in hers and looked directly at him, "Look, I've been trying to tell you since, well, ever since I..."

"Rita you're being weird" Iain interrupted "What is it?" he asked slightly worried.

Rita closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Reets, what is it? Are you ill?" Iain was now also sat up, his eyes filled with concern.

"No, I'm not." she told him, eyes still squeezed shut.

"What is it then?"

"Iain, I'm, I'm" She stuttered, suddenly she seemed to have forgotten how to speak.

"What?"

Rita took another breath, before announcing, "I'm pregnant..."

 **A/N: WARNING THIS IS A LONG ASS AUTHORS NOTE, I APOLOGISE IN ADVANCE!**

 **Sorry this is so late! I ended up working Monday as well after swapping shifts with a colleague, lucky me ended up with an 8am start and close finish, so I was too tired to do anything but shower and go to bed by the time I got home. I love my job, really.**

 **I would like to thank everyone who has supported me through this fic! To all who favorited and followed this story and to those who have commented (You all know who you are!). Thank you so much, it means the world to me!**

 **I would also like to say a special thank you to totti10, who had left numerous reviews on this story and if I am completely honest is the main reason why I continued with this story when I faced the ever familiar thought to just give up and delete the story as I have done in the past. (We shall not mentioned the 7 uploaded fics, I think it is, fics that have faced this fate!) You are amazing, Thank You!**

 **To those of you who may be interested there shall be a sequel to this story, which I need to start writing. I don't know when this will be ready, but I will add another chapter once I have done this with the link so that it is easier to find! I told you that the Epilogue would throw a spanner in the works! Let me know if there is any particular direction in which you would like to see the story go and if there are any specific moments that you would like and I will try to include them.**

 **Just a quick note for any of you lovely people who are reading my other fic 'Alone? Or Am I?' (Warning, it is very dark and carries a lot of Trigger Warnings if anyone is interested in reading it, please proceed with Caution as it is the complete opposite to the fluff in this fic!). An upload to that is coming soon, I promise, I just need to type and edit it but this can take a bit longer than normal as if I am not in the safe mind-frame to write that type of fic then I just can't put myself through it. I hope that you understand, but an upload is coming, I promise that I have not given up on it just yet!**

 **Once again, Thank You for your support! I hope that you have all enjoyed this fic. Please leave a review and/or suggestions for the sequel and I will get started on that within the next week or so (I will probably try to write a few more chapters than what I started this fic on in order to create somewhat of a regular uploading schedule, hence why it may take a bit longer than other uploads)!**

 **Lots of love from Nat xx**


	7. Sequel is Live!

_**A/N:**_ The sequel to this fic is live! Thanks for being so patient, I really do hope you enjoy reading it. To get to it, simply just replace the end of the URL above with this: /s/12080792/1/ . Failing that, the fic/sequel is entitled 'Liberty' and can be accessed via my profile and the Casualty homepage.


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